Services Sector in India

In FY23, India's services exports rose by 42% to US$ 322.72 billion from US$ 254 billion in FY22 and are expected to reach US$ 400 billion in FY24.

Advantage India

Robust
Demand

* India is the export hub for software services. The Indian IT outsourcing service market is expected to witness 6–8% growth between 2021 and 2024.

* India‘s IT and business services market is projected to reach US$ 19.93 billion by 2025.

* India's software service industry is expected to reach US$ 1 trillion by 2030.

Competitive
Advantage

* Growing participation in PPP.

* In September 2023, India retains to 40th rank in the Global Innovation Index (GII), due to successful advancements in services that are technologically dynamic and can be traded internationally.

Policy
support

* Government is promoting necessary services and will charge zero tax for education and health services under the GST regime.

* Centre has formulated ‘Action Plan for Champion Sectors in Services’ to give focused attention to 12 identified Champion Services Sectors.

Increasing
Investments

* The Indian services sector was the largest recipient of FDI inflows worth US$ 108 billion between April 2000-December 2023.

* According to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the service sector received US$ 5.1 billion in FDI equity inflows in FY24 (April-December).

* According to the IVCA-EY monthly PE/VC roundup, October 2022 recorded investments worth US$ 3.3 billion across 75 deals, including six large deals worth US$ 2.2 billion.

Snapshot Showcase Infographics Reports

Last updated: May, 2024

Services Industry Industry Report

Mar, 2024

Introduction

The reforms of the 1990s have been associated with the expansion of the service sector in India. Midway through the 1980s, the service sector began to expand, but it took off in the 1990s when India started a series of economic reforms in response to a serious balance of payments issue.

The services sector is not only the dominant sector in India’s GDP but has also attracted significant foreign investment, has contributed significantly to exports, and has provided large-scale employment. India’s services sector covers a wide variety of activities such as trade, hotel and restaurants, transport, storage and communication, financing, insurance, real estate, business services, community, social and personal services, and services associated with construction. To enhance India's commercial services exports, share in the global services market from 3.3% and permit a multi-fold expansion in the GDP, the government is also making significant efforts in this direction.

The service sector has over 50% contribution to India’s GDP, and it had witnessed a growth of 9.1% in 2022-23. Out of 8.12 million jobs in FY23, service sector companies in IT, banking, and finance accounted for almost half of the new jobs generated. The share of the services sector accounted for 57% of the total GVA in FY24 (April-September) as per advance estimates. The services category ranked first in FDI inflows, as per data released by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).

India is a unique emerging market in the globe due to its unique skills and competitive advantage created by knowledge-based services. The Indian services industry, which is supported by numerous government initiatives like smart Cities, clean India, and digital India is fostering an environment that is strengthening the services sector. The sector has the potential to open up a multi-trillion-dollar opportunity that might stimulate symbiotic growth for all nations. Service providers in India continued to signal positive demand trends in June, which underpinned a stronger increase in new business volumes and further job creation.

In December 2023, services exports grew by 1.3% to US$ 31.6 billion, driven by software, business, and travel services. While Imports declined by 1.2%, resulting in a record high net earnings of US$ 16.0 billion.

During October-December 2023, India experienced a 5.1% YoY to US$ 87.7 billion with a trade surplus of US$ 44.9 billion, growth in services exports, driven by software, business, and travel services.

Market Size

The services industry performed well in H2:2022-23, boosted by contact-intensive services and building activities. India’s services sector GVA increased YoY by 11.43% to Rs. 72.69 trillion (US$ 871.59 billion) in FY24* (April-September), from Rs. 68.81 trillion (US$ 1,005.30 billion) in FY16. India ‘s IT and business services market is projected to reach US$ 19.93 billion by 2025.

The PMI services remained in the expansion zone in September 2023, at 61, led by good demand conditions and new business gains, followed by a decline in November 2023. With the fastest growing (9.2%) service sector globally, the sector accounts for a 66% share of India's GDP and generates about 28% of the total employment in India. As per the First Advance Estimates, Gross Value Added (GVA) in the services sector is estimated to grow at 9.1% in FY23, driven by 13.7% growth in the contact-intensive services sector.

Recent Investments/ developments

Some of the investments/ developments in the services sector in the recent past are as follows:

The Indian services sector was the largest recipient of FDI inflows worth US$ 108 billion between April 2000-December 2023.
According to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the service sector received US$ 5.1 billion in FDI equity inflows in FY24 (April-December).
According to RBI’s Scheduled Banks’ Statement, deposits of all scheduled banks collectively surged by a whopping Rs.1.75 lakh crore (US$ 2,110.87 billion) as of December 1st, 2023.
The Indian hotel industry experienced a resurgence in 2023, fuelled by domestic leisure travel, MICE events, and business travellers’ return. Premium hotels saw higher occupancy and room rates, with continued domestic travel growth expected in 2024.
India’s telephone subscriber base stood at 1190 million as of December 2023.
At the end of December 2023, the top five service providers controlled 98.35% of the total broadband subscribers. These service providers were Reliance Jio Infocom Ltd stood at 470.19 million, followed by Bharti Airtel 264.76 million, Vodafone Idea 127.29 million, BSNL 25.12 million and Atria Convergence 2.23 million.
Since the launch of the Startup India initiative in 2016, DPIIT has recognized 122, 943 entities as startups as of February 2024.
As per report by BCG, by 2030, the fintech sector is expected to reach a value of US$ 1.5 trillion. The Asia-Pacific region is set to surpass the US, emerging as the leading global fintech market by the same year.
India took the lead with the fintech adoption rate of 87%, substantially higher than the world average of 64%.
According to the IVCA-EY monthly PE/VC roundup, October 2022 recorded investments worth US$ 3.3 billion across 75 deals, including six large deals worth US$ 2.2 billion. Exits were recorded at US$ 1.6 billion across 15 deals in October 2022.
The Indian healthcare industry represents approximately US$ 372 billion and is experiencing a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22%. With the significant population size, there exists substantial potential for expansion, as stated by G.S.K. Velu, the chairman & managing director of Trivitron Healthcare & Neuberg Diagnostics Group.
In June 2022, HCL Technologies (HCL), a leading global technology company, announced the opening of its new 9,000 sq. ft. delivery centre in Vancouver, Canada. The new centre will significantly expand its presence in the country to serve clients primarily in the HiTech industry.
The IT-BPM sector holds the potential to grow between 10-15% per annum. The IT and fintech segments provide over US$ 155 billion in gross value to the economy annually.
The IT and business services market will grow at a CAGR of 8.3% between 2021-26, reaching a US$ 20.5 billion valuation by the end of 2026.
By October 2021, the Health Ministry’s eSanjeevani telemedicine service, crossed 14 million (1.4 crore) teleconsultations since its launch, enabling patient-to-doctor consultations, from the confines of their home, and doctor-to-doctor consultations.
The Indian healthcare industry is expected to shift to digitally enabled remote consultations via teleconsultation. The telemedicine market in India is expected to increase at a CAGR of 31% from 2020 to 2025.

Government Initiatives

The Government of India recognises the importance of promoting growth in the services sector and provides several incentives across a wide variety of sectors like health care, tourism, education, engineering, communications, transportation, information technology, banking, finance, and management among others.

Centre has formulated an ‘Action Plan for Champion Sectors in Services’ to give focused attention to 12 identified Champion Services Sectors.
India’s tourism and hospitality sector may earn US$ 50.9 billion as visitor exports by 2028.
As per 2022 University Grants Commission (UGC) statistics, there are a total of 1,072 universities in the country, including 460 state universities, 128 deemed to be universities (a status of autonomy granted to high-performing institutes and universities by the Department of Higher Education), 54 central universities (established by the Department of Higher Education), and 430 private universities.
The Government of India has adopted a few initiatives in the recent past, some of these are as follows: As of November 9, 2022, the number of bank accounts opened under the government’s ‘Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY)’ scheme reached 47.39 crore and deposits in Jan Dhan bank accounts totalled Rs. 1.76 lakh crore (US$ 21.59 billion).
In October 2021, the government launched a production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme to boost manufacturing of telecom and networking products in India. The scheme is expected to attract an investment of ~Rs. 3,345 crore (US$ 446.22 million) over the next four years and generate additional employment for >40,000 individuals.
In October 2021, the government launched phase II of the Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship to empower students and boost skill development.
In October 2021, the PM Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission was launched by the government, to strengthen the critical healthcare network across India in the next four to five years.
The Indian government is planning to introduce a credit incentive programme worth Rs. 50,000 crore (US$ 6.8 billion) to boost healthcare infrastructure in the country. The programme will allow companies to access funds to ramp up hospital capacity or medical supplies with the government acting as a guarantor.
Under the Union Budget 2021-22, the government allocated Rs. 7,000 crore (US$ 963.97 million) to the BharatNet programme to boost digital connectivity across India.
The FDI limit for insurance companies has been raised from 49% to 74% and 100% for insurance intermediates.
On January 15, 2021, the third phase of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) was launched in 600 districts with 300+ skill courses. Spearheaded by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, the third phase will focus on new-age and COVID-related skills. PMKVY 3.0 aims to train eight lakh candidates.
In January 2021, the Department of Telecom, Government of India, signed an MoU with the Ministry of Communications, Government of Japan, to strengthen cooperation in the areas of 5G technologies, telecom security and submarine optical fibre cable systems.
In the next five years, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology is working to increase the contribution of the digital economy to 20% of GDP. The government is working to build a cloud-based infrastructure for collaborative networks that can be used for the creation of innovative solutions by AI entrepreneurs and startups.
On Independence Day 2020, Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi announced the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) to provide a unique health ID to every Indian and revolutionise the healthcare industry by making it easily accessible to everyone in the country. The policy draft is under ‘public consultation’ until September 21, 2020.
In September 2020, the Government of Tamil Nadu announced a new electronics & hardware manufacturing policy aligned with the old policy to increase the state's electronics output to US$ 100 billion by 2025. Under the policy, it aims to meet the requirement for incremental human resources by upskilling and training >100,000 people by 2024.
The government of India has launched the National Broadband Mission to provide Broadband access to all villages by 2022.

Road Ahead

Both domestic and global factors influence the growth of the services sector. An extensive range of service industries has experienced double-digit growth in recent years, supported by digital technologies and institutional frameworks made possible by the government. The ease of doing business in India has significantly increased for domestic and foreign firms due to considerable advancements in culture and the government outlook. Due to ongoing changes in the areas of lowering trade barriers, easing FDI regulations, and deregulation, India's services sector is poised to grow at a healthy rate in the coming years. Over the next 10 years, the National Digital Health Blueprint can unlock the incremental economic value of over US$ 200 billion for the healthcare industry in India.

India’s digital economy is estimated to reach US$ 1 trillion by 2025. By the end of 2023, India’s IT and business services sector is expected to reach US$ 14.3 billion with 8% growth. The implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) has created a common national market and reduced the overall tax burden on goods. It is expected to reduce costs in the long run on account of the availability of GST input credit, which will result in a reduction in the prices of services. India's software service industry is expected to reach US$ 1 trillion by 2030.

Due to ongoing changes in the areas of lowering trade barriers, easing FDI regulations, and deregulation, India's services sector is poised to grow at a healthy rate in the coming years.

Note: The conversion rate used for November 2023 is Rs. 1 = US$ 0.012

References: Media Reports, Press Releases, DPIIT publication, Press Information Bureau

Note: *- Services sector includes Financial, Banking, Insurance, Non-Financial / Business, Outsourcing, R&D, Courier, Tech Testing and Analysis, Other